The following is a historical look at the information the Eisenhower administration was receiving during the time they were making negative comments about UFOs and space travel.

Mars May have Orbiting Space Base, says White House Advisor

March 1960: The Martian moon Phobos, generally accepted as a celestial body, actually may be an artificial satellite launched long ago by an advanced Martian race, according to Dr. S. Fred Singer, special advisor to President Eisenhower on space developments. No mention was made of the other Mars moon, Deimos.

In his published opinion, Dr. Singer backed a claim first made by the Soviet astrophysicist Shklovsky. The Russian scientist's announcement that Phobos was a hollow, artificial satellite, proving the existence of a Martian civilization, set off heated arguments among astronomers. Shklovsky based his decision on a long study of Phobos' peculiar orbit, which other astronomers have noted. The Russian claim has calculations and those of earlier astronomers prove Phobos cannot possibly be an ordinary moon.

Though Dr. Singer said the figures still had to be proved, his Phobos statement in the February Astronautics, rejected other astronomers' objections.

"I would be very disappointed if it turns out to be solid," said the white House advisor. If the figures were correct, he stated, then Phobos undoubtedly is a hollow, artificial satellite. If it is, he said, its purpose would probably be to sweep up radiation in the Mars' atmosphere, so that Martians could safely operate around their planet. Dr. Singer also pointed out that Phobos would make an ideal space base, both for Martians and earthlings.

In light of this article, there was an interesting assessment of Mars given during a space briefing presented during an Eisenhower cabinet meeting. The briefing, by Eisenhower Science Advisor Dr. James Killian, was given March 14, 1958 -- "Mars - Much more exciting. Conditions more similar to earth -- Undoubtedly some form of life, although probably not ones which we would recognize."

In 1963, Raymond H. Wilson Jr., Chief of Applied Mathematics at NASA, joined Shklovsky and Dr. Singer in their Martian conclusions. He stated that "Phobos might be a colossal base orbiting Mars." He also stated that NASA itself was considering the possibility, and was planning for special probes that would answer the question.

Dr Iosif Shklovsky based his conclusion on calculations that had been done by the U.S. Naval Observatory (rumored in the 1980s to have been the home of the elusive MJ-12 group). Shklovsky stated Phobos was being "slowed by electromagnetic drag and tidal friction more than was possible was an actual solid moon."Â Â

Shklovsky is also famous for having written a 1966 book on SETI called Intelligent Life in the Universe. A famous astronomer by the name of Carl Sagan was asked to edit the book. When he had finished adding all his viewpoints the book had doubled in length and he became a co-authored with Shklovsky. Their views on extra-terrestrial life still remained at odds. During the Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects - Hearing before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, Sagan was asked by Congressman Roush if Shklovsky shared his views. Sagan replied:

I think he shares my restraint. I think both of us would say we think this is an extremely important subject, that we are on the frontier of being able to find out, but that neither of us knows whether there is or isn't life out there. Let me say if it turns out there isn't life on Mars, that is almost as interesting as if we find there is life on Mars, because then we have to ask, what happened different on Mars than on the Earth, so that life arose here and not there. That will surely give us a very profound entry into the question of follow-up of evolution and the cosmic context.